One of the most common among classic writing (and speaking) grammargoofs is the I or ME dilemma, when I-ME does something with someone else.

Did Dad and I go out for brunch yesterday, or was it Dad and me?

Without resorting to formal grammar jargon, here is a simplified but very easy to grasp illustration of the problem and its solutions…and scroll down if you want an easy trick to make sure you stay out of the I-ME trap from now on…

As you probably know I am forever advising businesses not to write about how “we” do this and “we” do that, unless they can relate that to how they benefit customers very, very quickly.

If you’re a sole trader, should you write about yourself in the first person?

That’s largely because people writing “we-wee” are too inwardly focused and forget to share with readers what’s in it for them, which in business is critically important. But recently I have been taking a look at websites belonging to, and I assume written by, individual solopreneurs and sole traders. And I have to concede, they have a problem that is harder to solve.

Although writing about yourself for business, voluntary work, sports or leisure information, etc. has many common denominators, writing short bios (1-2 paragraph biographies) is a bit of a special art.

Usually you have very few words to play with, from maybe 30 words at the painful shorter end and up to, say, 150 at the more relaxed end. The bad news: this does not allow you much room for manoeuvre. [Read more…]

Probably the most important thing the internet and particularly social media have done is to turn marketers’ perception of us from that of basic, dim-witted consumers … to that of intelligent, questioning buyers who just aren’t going to be fooled by hard-sell bullsh*t any more.

When you write about yourself for business you have got to look upon yourself not as the person, but as the brand your work represents.

In fact what we have seen is a massive paradigm shift from the days when writing about yourself was about selling yourself and your stuff to people in one-way communication…

…to a time now when you get involved with your marketplace, get to know the people, and then help them to buy.

And that’s whether you want them to buy your product, your services, or even you – yourself.

I have dragged myself, kicking and screaming, into the wonderful world of eCommerce, and my eBooks are finally available instantly (well, as long as you pay for them).

That’s as opposed to paying for them and then trusting me to send the books out to you once PayPal had notified me – often hours later. Thank you to the hundreds of readers who bought books anyway and trusted me to send them out manually. You’re stars!

Getting that eCommerce show on the road wasn’t easy, I can tell you.

I’m so spooked by technology that it has taken me nearly a year of paying for membership of E-Junkie before I could build up the courage to go find out what was needed to put 6 of my books up on there. Wimp or what?

But over a couple of days of pacing myself, I read up on the processes and experimented with one book until I figured I had got it about right. I had a couple of false starts, e.g. where I forgot to upload one book and wondered why the link didn’t work. Fail.

And voilà!

(Don’t you love these English-only spell checkers that insist “voilà” should be a “viola?” Quels cons.

As always in these circumstances, after figuring out the whole thing one should slap oneself on the forehead and say “of course! It’s so easy! Why has it taken me so long when I could have done this months ago?” Because, er, I’m utterly technophobic, that’s why.

But I did have to smile when my son asked me what I was doing, while I was struggling away with the E-Junkie processes. A snatch of the dialogue…

“Well, all I have to do, so it seems, is just cut and paste the HTML into the HTML editor on my site, and that’s it really.”

“Sorry Mum, you lost me. I just use techie shit for email, Facebook, Word and Excel. Haven’t a clue what you’re on about.”

It’s comforting to know that despite being Mum I do know a bit more about “techie shit” – in some areas – than a 21-year-old university student…

So what can you get as instant downloads now?

Click on the sidebar, top right, or to see individual eBooks, click on the green titles – go …

Business Writing Made Easy
From blogging to business emails, speeches to sales letters – all you need to know to write well for business in English

How To Write About Yourself
Simple, effective ways to make the most of yourself in writing, whether for an “about” page, CV/résumé, biography, testimonial and much more

How To Write Winning Non-fiction
Described as “the book writing coach in your pocket” … the comprehensive guide to devising, planning, writing, publishing and promoting your non-fiction book

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